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opplecopter 's review for:
This Thing Between Us
by Gus Moreno
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thiago and his wife, Vera get a smart speaker for their home, called an Itza. Shortly after, packages start arriving containing things they never ordered. Itza spontaneously plays music at random times, sometimes at a high volume, and Thiago wakes up in the night finding Itza putting on a light show in another room while he and Vera were in bed. On top of the already existing cold spots in the house and the scratching sounds from inside the walls, things have become even more eerie. Shortly after, Vera dies in a freak accident (this isn’t a spoiler, the book opens with her funeral) and Thiago blames himself even though he was nowhere near her when it happened. Itza continues her odd behaviors, even waking him again in the night talking to someone who isn’t there. Ravaged by grief and freaked out by the creepy technology, he decides to relocate to a remote cabin in Colorado. He needs space from Vera’s friends who constantly text encouraging him to move on, from Vera’s mother who never really liked him to begin with, and the politicians who seek to exploit Vera’s tragic, untimely death as a way to further their own motives. He soon finds that something has followed him, something that had its claws in him before ever coming to Colorado, and isn’t planning on letting go.
So, I have no idea what I just read. The first half of this book started out smooth. It opens immediately after Vera’s funeral. We get an intimate view of Thiago’s grief. He’s completely lost on how to handle this or what he should be doing. Vera’s mother steps in and takes control and Thiago, too broken to argue, gives in. The timeline kind of jumps around from the present day, to before the accident that claimed Vera’s life, his childhood, etc. with about half the story taking place after he relocated to Colorado. This is where things go off the rails. A cosmic horror indeed, it felt like this went from what I initially thought would be “AI gone wrong” to H.P. Lovecraft real quick. Which would’ve totally been ok, if it hadn’t been so ridiculously confusing. Maybe that was the intention, to make you question what actually happened and what was real, madness, otherworldly, hallucinations or delusions brought on by grief and stress. Well it worked. When there started to be some connections made back to the first half of the book, I was hoping for some clarification, but nah. A few things did line up. We get some more context about some things that happened, like when Thiago visits the person responsible for Vera’s death, but the rest? About as clear as a mud puddle.
It isn’t that this book is badly written, it truly isn’t. The author definitely knows how to ramp up the bizarre atmosphere and Thiago is a well developed character. The wording wasn’t overly complicated, it wasn’t boring, there weren’t any lulls in the story. It isn’t even a bad story, per se. I just couldn’t enjoy the entire second half because it was so hard to follow. I can’t explain this in a linear format, since the timeline eventually goes out the window completely and everything including reality is out of order. This is a book you just hold onto for the ride. Does the ride answer all your questions or lead to a happily ever after? Absolutely not. There’s some dark and weird things that happen including graphic animal harm/death (check your triggers). Does it lead you into feeling like someone chopped up several stories and tossed them into the air and you read the scraps as they fell down whilst in the middle of a fever dream? Yes. Yes, it does. If that’s the vibe you’re going for, this is the one for you. If you go for stories with a smidge of ambiguity (strong emphasis on smidge), that have a bit of an open ending (a lil bit), but like a bit more organization so things are mostly coherent and cohesive, skip this one because there’s no smidges here. It takes a “go hard or go home” kind of approach. Would I recommend? I don’t know. It’s not my jam, but might be for someone else. That’s like asking if I would suggest someone eat candy corn. Personally I hate the stuff, but some other people love it. Specifically, the weirdos who like eating something that tastes like wax. So, sure. Here’s a great book for all y’all wax eaters.
So, I have no idea what I just read. The first half of this book started out smooth. It opens immediately after Vera’s funeral. We get an intimate view of Thiago’s grief. He’s completely lost on how to handle this or what he should be doing. Vera’s mother steps in and takes control and Thiago, too broken to argue, gives in. The timeline kind of jumps around from the present day, to before the accident that claimed Vera’s life, his childhood, etc. with about half the story taking place after he relocated to Colorado. This is where things go off the rails. A cosmic horror indeed, it felt like this went from what I initially thought would be “AI gone wrong” to H.P. Lovecraft real quick. Which would’ve totally been ok, if it hadn’t been so ridiculously confusing. Maybe that was the intention, to make you question what actually happened and what was real, madness, otherworldly, hallucinations or delusions brought on by grief and stress. Well it worked. When there started to be some connections made back to the first half of the book, I was hoping for some clarification, but nah. A few things did line up. We get some more context about some things that happened, like when Thiago visits the person responsible for Vera’s death, but the rest? About as clear as a mud puddle.
It isn’t that this book is badly written, it truly isn’t. The author definitely knows how to ramp up the bizarre atmosphere and Thiago is a well developed character. The wording wasn’t overly complicated, it wasn’t boring, there weren’t any lulls in the story. It isn’t even a bad story, per se. I just couldn’t enjoy the entire second half because it was so hard to follow. I can’t explain this in a linear format, since the timeline eventually goes out the window completely and everything including reality is out of order. This is a book you just hold onto for the ride. Does the ride answer all your questions or lead to a happily ever after? Absolutely not. There’s some dark and weird things that happen including graphic animal harm/death (check your triggers). Does it lead you into feeling like someone chopped up several stories and tossed them into the air and you read the scraps as they fell down whilst in the middle of a fever dream? Yes. Yes, it does. If that’s the vibe you’re going for, this is the one for you. If you go for stories with a smidge of ambiguity (strong emphasis on smidge), that have a bit of an open ending (a lil bit), but like a bit more organization so things are mostly coherent and cohesive, skip this one because there’s no smidges here. It takes a “go hard or go home” kind of approach. Would I recommend? I don’t know. It’s not my jam, but might be for someone else. That’s like asking if I would suggest someone eat candy corn. Personally I hate the stuff, but some other people love it. Specifically, the weirdos who like eating something that tastes like wax. So, sure. Here’s a great book for all y’all wax eaters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail